


Speed Date

by AurorFelicis3755



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Blind Date, M/M, Speed Dating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 08:11:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4780130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AurorFelicis3755/pseuds/AurorFelicis3755
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When John is roped into speed dating, he doesn't rate his chances highly, but who should show up but a certain consulting detective?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Speed Date

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for checking out the first chapter of this, I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think and tell me if you spot any typos! This first chapter is quite short but I'm hoping the next one will be up in the next few days. Happy reading!

John couldn't believe he was actually here. When he'd met Mike Stamford in the park last week, he'd hoped for a ten minute catch up over coffee, not a bloody date. Not that he was on a date with Mike Stamford, of course. Although that would at least have been easy to turn down. No, John was stuck in a poorly lit cheap restaurant, bloody speed dating.

 

_"John! John Watson!" Crawling free of his thoughts, John turned to see his old colleague and friend striding to catch up with him on the leafy gravel path._

_"Mike", John pretended to smile._

_A few minutes of awkward conversation later and John still had no excuse to escape. Mike's words came thick and fast then suddenly halted, leaving confused, uncomfortable silences it was up to John to fill._

_"So, Mike, any, um, romances in your life at the moment?"_

_"Oh, no, I've been divorced for a few months now. Wife had enough after 10 years. Hardly ever forever really, is it? Ahh, its not a bad life really. I've got a thing tonight actually."_

_"A... thing?"_

_"Yeah, a meeting-people thing, y'know, like, speed dating."_

_"Oh, well... fantastic, good for you."_

_"You seem pretty lonesome yourself, you know. On your own in London... Maybe it's a girlfriend you need, not a flatmate!"_

_"Oh, I really don't-"_

_"Or a boyfriend, maybe? I never could figure you out, John, you'd slope off with anyone after a night down the pub."_

_"I really- what-"_

_"Hey, what a great idea! You should come along with me tonight - I wanted some moral support for this thing, and it seems like you could do with meeting someone too. I'll ring Sandra right away, shes organising the whole thing, a great girl she is. I'm sure she'll find a space for a lonely veteran soldier with a reputation spanning... three continents, if I remember correctly? Yes, I'll ring her right away and text you the details."_

_And Mike strode off, taking John's hopes for a peaceful evening in with a microwave dinner and Bake Off with him._

 

"What to drink, sir?" A waiter who didnt look old enough to be out this late was shoving a drinks menu in John's face. Oh, he was _so_ not in the mood for this.

"A pint, to start with, cheers, mate."

Date number one was, well, lets just say, not John's type. She was at least ten years older than john, and doing a poor job with her attempts to conceal this fact with layers of make-up. She spoke with a smoker's growl, and squawked with laughter at everything John said, joke or not.

Date number two was painfully nervous, a petite woman who looked a good deal younger than John. She spoke in a quiet sqeak, and John couldn't help but focus on the green something stuck between her teeth, rather than what she was saying.

Half way through date number three, John decided to go home as soon as the weeping emotional wreck he'd been landed with got up and moved on. She could've done with moving on in both senses of the phrase - she wouldn't stop droning on about her ex boyfriend. John put some effort in when she first sat down and started sobbing, but two minutes in he gave her up as a lost cause.

John got up to leave when the bell rang to change partners, planning to make some excuse to the organiser Sandra and dash out as fast as his limping leg would let him. However, date number four made him sit back down again: an extremely pretty woman, around John's age, with long dark hair and a mischievous smile. They chatted for a few minutes with ease, but towards the end of their date John guaged a level of disinterest, and lowered his hopes that something may actuallly come of this embarrassing evening.

As the bell rang and everyone started shuffling between tables, John got up and grabbed his coat from the back of his chair. He'd had enough of this torture. It was only when he'd got a few steps away that he sensed an intense gaze from the table he'd just left behind.

**Author's Note:**

> "Bake Off", for those unsure, is a British TV cooking contest, The Great British Bake Off. Its classic comfort TV, with light humour and all the contestants are friends. I can highly reccomend it. But anyway, you get the vibe John wanted for his evening.  
> You can interpret date number two as Molly if you like. I was inspired by Molly when I wrote about the date, but grumpy John isn't very nice about her so in my head she changed to a different person to avoid tainting canon (awesome) Molly Hooper. But yeah, that bit is your choice.


End file.
